Kaze Noil: Winds of Change
by Professor Image
Summary: Kaze Noil Reboot. To defeat the Juubi, Naruto had to become it. Though others would kill for immortality and god-like power, Naruto cursed it. When Naruto gives up all hope, he is approached by the gods. Charged to become their avatar, their physical manifestation of their will. A god of the wind. A enemy of evil. Kaze Noil. (WIP)
1. Ten Year War

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto or any other fictional material herein; the only things that I own are original characters, themes, and plot lines. I have made no money off of this work, as this was written for entertainment purposes only. Thank you.

Enjoy:

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Kaze Noil: Winds of Change

Chapter I

Ten Year War

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XXX

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"Is that everyone?" Naruto asked to the empty air, while looking down from the cliff face at the valley below. On the horizon he could spot the distant glow of powerful, malevolent chakra, and his own chakra senses, tuned to perfection over ten long years of war and training could easily detect the presence of the Juubi looming ever closer to this mountain range. Naruto stood silently at the summit of the mountain, his back to the canyon where the last human civilization waited. So few of them remained to protect the innocents hidden by the mountain peaks, the population of ninja around the world having dropped nearly ninety percent since the start of this war ten years ago.

"Yes," a low voice said from behind him as a shadow appeared so suddenly that it might as well have been there all along. Naruto heaved a sigh and closed his eyes. Watching him, the shadow spoke again, "After I use the jutsu my body won't be able to stay corporeal any longer. The last of my chakra will be used for this one purpose, and with it gone I will soon leave this world. The only thing that I'll have time to do is program the soldiers to hold off the Juubi."

"Yes, tragic, that," Naruto drawled, not bothering to hide his contempt for the man behind him. Though the war had pushed enemies together, united against the awesome might of the Juubi, Naruto still hated the man for what he'd done to everyone he had cared for. The man nodded his head, and the two fell silent. Then, suddenly, Naruto broke the silence, by saying, "I almost wish Orochimaru was still alive."

"His use of the Rebirth of the Impure World ninjutsu truly was...unique," the man agreed, "doubtless we would have last this long against the Juubi if he hadn't decided to switch to our side," the man mused. Naruto ran a hand through his blond spikes, feeling impossibly tired and aged beyond his years. The war had forced everyone to grow, and sacrifices had to be made; both superficial and physical. Out of all the soldiers in the war, Naruto was perhaps the one to suffer the most, as the Kyuubi prevented him from dying, forcing him to watch as everyone he cared about died. Even Killer B had been overwhelmed in the end, and in his last minutes had sealed the Eight Tails into Naruto's seal, fusing the Kyuubi and that Hachibi together into a surplus of power that gave the shinobi forces another edge.

"Even you had a hand in our survival," Naruto offered, since the man had actually gone beyond his abilities to protect mankind from the raging beast that was the Juubi. The man, the shadow behind him, nodded in thanks for the compliment. They both were aware of the hatred that they shared between them, so a compliment offered to each other was unlikely, but had so much value between them. "Still...it seems so strange that everything is finally coming to a head. We've been fighting this war for so long that I've truly forgotten what peace was like..." he briefly reflected on his own past, trying to remember the days before the Juubi; before Akatsuki; before Orochimaru; before the Bridge; before his exams; before everything...only a blurry memory greeted him.

"I have lived for well over a hundred years now," the man offered his own recollection, "Only in my most distant memory does peace exist...it is horrifying to imagine that I have been in a war for the majority of my life..." the man calmly explained. Naruto accepted this admission easily; now knowing the man's past as fully as his own. The man had been waging a war with the world for so long, now only to protect it in its darkest hour. It brought and interesting perspective to the scene between them.

"Sometimes, when I dream, I dream that I'm back in the academy waiting to take my genin exams," he iterated fondly, "I'm anxious and nervous and a bit jittery, and Sakura and Ino are still fighting over Sasuke, and I'm jealous and angry. Then Iruka calls me, and I enter the exam room. I stand before Iruka and Mizuki and do the clone jutsu, successfully, and pass the test easily. When I then leave the room, I'm greeted by Hinata, who smiles and asks me for a date. I agree, and finally feel a monogram of peace...and then I wake up," he examined his nails thoughtfully, only idly paying attention to the man beside him.

"Sometimes I too fear I'm dreaming," the man stated offhandedly, as if he didn't realize he was saying the words. The both of them had shared these moments in the times since they had allied together, and despite how used to it they both were, they still felt awkward around each other as there was plenty of bad blood between them. "This all just seems so terrible...so surreal... like a dream." They both shared a bitter laugh, then fell silent.

There was an explosion far off in the distance, and Naruto felt more then saw the ball of chakra hurling towards them. With a prolonged sigh, Naruto charged the fused chakra of his own personal bijuu and his own chakra, and then tossed a Rasenshuriken at the ball of chakra that stopped it long enough for the man behind him to open a Kamui that sucked the ball of chakra up. The shadow fell to his knees, gasping for breath.

"It's time," Naruto said simply, as he pulled Madara Uchiha to his feet and looked him over. The constant use of his limited chakra over ten years had weathered the reanimated body that he was possessing. Naruto suspected he only had enough chakra to bring a few thousand people back to fight.

"I'm fine," Madara waved him away tiredly, managing to support his own legs this time as he looked in the direction of the Juubi that was slowly making its way towards them. "Let's just finish this."

A dark look came to Naruto's face, and his jaw clenched tightly.

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XXX

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Hinata was waiting for him in the house that the two of them had shared for the last two years. She was just as tired, broken, and kind as he remembered from when he had left her an hour ago, but now she had managed to shrug on a basic set of ninja armor and was attaching a prosthetic puppet arm to the stub of her left arm, the claws of the fake arm dripping with poison. Quietly, Naruto set her down in the chair in their home and looked her in her one good eye.

"You're not going," he said stubbornly. Hinata gave him a fierce glare that was only half as effective since one of her eyes was slack and stared sightlessly at his face, the scars on the left side of her face seeming only all the more prominent.

"We've already had this discussion, Naruto-kun...I'm going," the years of constant war had hardened the young Hyuuga clan heiress. With death so glaringly close, she had latched onto Naruto and the two had been comforting each other for years. Even when she was disfigured in a particular battle with the Juubi Naruto had remained by her side and tended to her. But the way he dotted on her and smothered her ever since she was irrevocably injured always tended to piss her off, especially when the fate of the human race could depend on her participating in the battle.

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a long look, daring her to defy him. As the official leader of the remainder of the human race, Naruto had a lot of tote in what plans people made, especially when planning for an assault against Juubi. Since he had risen to power a year ago, no one had been killed by the Juubi. Still, the Juubi was persistent, and had hunted and obliterated all the other human settlements around the world that hadn't joined with the Ninja Forces. Hinata stared at him just as defiantly.

"Hinata, this isn't open for discussion. This is the _last_ battle," Naruto implored her seriously, "we're the last of the human race. Whatever the conclusion of this battle will be will mean the end of this war...either with the extinction of humanity, or the death of the Juubi..." Hinata watched him silently, and when he was done speaking she leaned towards him and took his right hand in her remaining hand and stared at him tenderly.

"Only for a new Juubi to take its place," she said quietly, knowing what it was that Naruto and Madara had been planning these last few months. "I don't want you to have to go through that alone...I just," she sniffed suddenly, tears rising to the corner of her eyes, "you'll be in so much pain...I just want you to know that you'll be loved and that there are people waiting for you to come back."

Naruto put his left hand under her chin and tilted her head up, before dipping down to plant a simple kiss to her lips. Then he pulled back and said, "But I will know. How could I forget something so important? Besides, you hold my future inside you. I could never abandon you knowing that fact," His left hand lowered and placed itself to her stomach, that was just beginning to show signs of her pregnancy, the only miracle that he had witnessed in all this tragedy. Hinata sniffled, and the two shared a wet kiss, before she wrapped her good arm around his shoulders and buried her face in his neck.

"I don't want to lose you," she admitted quietly, sounding far more vulnerable then he had remembered her sounding in all of five years. She planted a kiss to his neck and he feathered kisses to her forehead.

"You won't, I promise," he told her. She pulled back and he smiled tenderly, "it's a promise of a life time."

Hinata smiled. Those words. The last time that he had said them he had promised to bring Sasuke back to Sakura. And while it took over five years to do, he had eventually convinced Sasuke to ally with the Ninja Nations to stop the Juubi and to return to Sakura. Both of his former teammates had married soon afterwards. So those words carried a lot of weight. If he promised her that, he was intending to keep it.

"Our nindo," she sighed happily, and leaned in to him. Naruto let her rest for a few moments, before pulling back to look her in the eyes again.

"One thing, though," Naruto said seriously. Hinata watched him silently, "I want you to promise that if things go south, if I can't control the power of the Juubi, that you'll run and never look back," Hinata opened her mouth to say something, but Naruto gripped her shoulders tightly, imploring her, "please, Hina-chan?"

Under the onslaught of his eyes, and seeing how serious he was, how worried he was for her and their unborn child, Hinata nodded her head, saying, "I promise."

The two shared another tender moment before the blaring of alarms sounded all around the village situated in the bowl formed by the mountains surrounding it. Before Naruto had time to stand a form dressed in ninja armor barreled into the room, panting. Konohamaru ground to a halt and saluted.

"Boss, it's here!" the young man exclaimed, sounding both excited and worried. The years had actually been kind to the heir to the Sarutobi clan, since nary a scar marred his flesh, only one, long slash across his forehead. And under Naruto's tutelage he had grown strong, maybe as strong as his grandfather was back in the day. Naruto shared another heart felt look with Hinata, before turning back to Konohamaru.

"I'll be there in a moment," Naruto claimed, before turning back to Hinata, "let me say goodbye, alright?"

"Okay, boss!" the young ninja chirped, before taking off to rally the remaining ninja willing to fight the colossal force of the Juubi. Naruto and Hinata shared one long look before embracing quickly.

"You better come back, alright, mister?" Hinata whispered into his ear. Naruto smiled and tightened his hold on her, holding her as if she was the most valuable and fragile piece of fine china in the world. Then he let her go.

"I promised, didn't I?" he said confidently. He pressed a kiss to her forehead before turning to the door. "Just remember your promise, okay?" and then he was gone.

Hinata lowered her good arm to her waist, and held her stomach tenderly with one hand, her heart in her throat as she worried her lip.

"Take care..."

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XXX

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Naruto overlooked all the gathered ninja forces; only a few thousand strong. But those few thousand had been honed by the war and continued training to become a threat to the Juubi. Most of the ninja heading out to face the Juubi in the final, climatic battle were roughly Kage level. That there was so many would startle the Kage of the past, but fighting the Juubi forced everyone to adapt.

"My friends and comrades!" Naruto exclaimed, silencing everyone, as they could hear the loud footsteps of the Juubi drawing ever closer, "Tonight we face mankind's most dangerous and cruel foe," he clenched his hand and threw it in the air, in the direction of the approaching Juubi. "Before us stands the Juubi, the most powerful force of nature in the world, and it is a evil, vile thing. It will not hesitate to kill, will not show fear, will not mourn the loss of all life when it finally and inevitably extinguishes all life..."

"Many have tried to exploit it...to claim its power for its own. But the Juubi is too strong for mere mortals to hope to cull it. All that can be done is to hope to kill it, and in that we have failed so far," he addressed the gathered forces as they hung on to his every word.

"Tonight we face our last stand. Our last challenge," Naruto intoned, pouring all his emotions into his words and speaking from the heart, "If we fail tonight then there is no hope for the future, for we will surely be dead; consumed in the Beast's stomach," he tightened his hand into a fist and threw it into the air aggressively.

"But we will NOT fail! For we have something that that piece of shit animal doesn't have! We have friends, family, loved ones, intense feelings and a drive to protect the world from its terror! We will NOT fail because we CANNOT!" Naruto spread his arms wide, as if to engulf the whole world in his fury, as he expelled everything in one last rush of words drenched in rage and the fierce desire to protect mankind, "We CANNOT be beaten, for in each of us we hold the Will of Fire, and that WILL won't allow us to crawl feebly away! We WILL stand! We WILL fight! And we WILL win! Brothers," Naruto turned away and drew a simple katana from his side, raising it in the air, "TO ARMS!" the roar of the people followed him as every ninja gathered took up a weapon and marched forwards to battle the Juubi.

It was now or never...

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XXX

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The ninja forces surged forwards in droves, looking like mere ants compared to the sheer size and girth of the Juubi, who shrieked at them, one eye glaring defiantly at the insects who dared to oppose its might. Leading the charge was Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, spitting and raging against it and burning with chakra as he swatted the Juubi. The Ten Tails barely had time to react before Naruto had taken his beast form and charged at the chakra beast, waves of chakra rolling off him and slamming into the evil beast.

The two titans fought desperately for perchance, seemingly evenly matched, though the combined might of the Eight and Nine Tails was only slightly less then that of the Juubi itself, giving it an advantage over the demonic man. From atop his chakra beast form, Naruto was already forming a Rasenshuriken, before his beast's form opened its maw and fired a Bijuu Ball. Naruto then fired his coalesced Rasenshuriken into the ball which combined the familiar chakras, creating a truly massive Rasenshuriken that barreled into the Juubi and making it tumble onto its back.

The ninja horde took full advantage of this and began raining jutsu, explosive tags, weapons, and seals onto the monster. The Juubi swatted at them, but the humans were quick, and darted away, before Naruto pressed on and attacked the downed Juubi, holding it down and trying to bite at it. The two beasts struggled for control, their chakra wrecking havoc on the environment. From above his chakra beast Naruto rained nearly an endless supply of Rasenshuriken into the creature, since they were the only thing that could pierce its hide. Naruto grit his teeth and desperately fought the beast's might, since he was waiting for Madara to make his move.

And quite suddenly the tide of battle turned as a literal landslide of reanimated humans poured in from every corner of the canyon, pushing the Juubi back, allowing Naruto's beast form to take a swing at it that pushed it into a surrounding mountain, toppling head over end over the tall peak.

With all the corpses that piled up over the world in the ten years since the war began Madara had more then enough corpses to reanimate with the new and improved Rebirth of the Impure World ninjutsu. This new technique didn't need living bodies to reanimate the dead, and with the sheer wealth of dead in the world, Madara had gone crazy over the last few months to resurrect as many dead and powerful ninja as he could to fight against the Juubi.

Madara appeared suddenly on Naruto's chakra beast, breathing heavily. His reanimated flesh was gray and flecks of dusts were falling off his skin. It looked like he was barely able to stand. And yet he stood there, beside Naruto, and faced off against the Juubi.

"Never thought I'd be doing something this stupid," Madara murmured, and Naruto spared him a glance as he roared forwards and slammed into the Juubi, ramming its head into the mountain while the surrounding ninja and reanimated corpses continued to rain jutsu on it and trying to seal it. Turning to the younger blonde man, Madara said, "I only have enough chakra for one more Kamui. I'll use that to sever its legs and give you a chance to preform the seals necessary to kill this thing..." Naruto nodded at this, not taking his eyes off the beast.

"Do it," and as the word's left his mouth the Juubi's legs suddenly disappeared. The beast fell to the ground with a roar, toppling the mountain it had been leaning against and crushing several hundred of the reanimated corpses. Instantly, ninja everywhere, living and dead, began applying seals and chains to its body to hold it down and keep it from thrashing. It would only take a few moments for the Juubi's legs to regenerate, Naruto knew, so he instantly began forming hand seals.

Just as he was nearing the last few seals he heard Madara mutter, "Go get him, kid," and then he couldn't feel Madara next to him anymore. Instead of faltering at this, Naruto pushed onwards and finished the last few seals.

"Purifying Seal: Cleansing Absorption," Naruto whispered. For a moment, his chakra surged around him, bright like a star going supernova, and then both the Juubi and Naruto were transforming to chakra and surging towards each other.

The two stars of chakra, one blue and the other red, hovered around each other, striking against each other as if they were battling fiercely, before the blue chakra ball lunged at the red chakra ball and the two pressed together. The new chakra ball's colors began flickering wildly, shifting between red and blue without restraint. From above, storm clouds gathered, swirling around the ball of chakra as large arcs of lightning shot from the ball and impacted the surrounding landscape. A wind picked up and began swirling around the ball of chakra, soon becoming a tornado. The surrounding ninja and reanimated dead departed the area, looking fearfully at the spot where their leader was tangled in a battle of wills with the most ferocious beast in history.

From inside the ball of chakra Naruto was struggling against the fury of the Juubi. The thing was even more terrible then anyone could ever suspect. Its will was like the force of a furious god coming down from the heavens only to smite whatever foolish mortal dared insult its honor. Though neither he nor the Juubi possessed a physical body in this form, more like just a battle of the minds, their wills acting against each other, Naruto almost felt as if he was grappling with the beast's arms, trying to overpower each other.

The Juubi swung at him and Naruto darted under its mental representation of its will, jamming a fist into its gut. The Juubi roared and slammed its shoulders into his chest, knocking him back. It fell upon him and Naruto kicked up with his feet, throwing it over his shoulders and into the void of their combined mental scape. Then a great force was rising from the depths, and his eyes widened as the Juubi's previously gigantic body formed from the void, towering over him. It roared, and Naruto dived to the side as it struck down at him. The world jeered wildly as its power shook the mind scape.

Naruto summoned a Rasenshuriken and hurled it at the beast. The force of it struck it solidly against its snout. It roared and fired a Bijuu Ball at him that Naruto barely avoided by using the Flying Thunder God technique. Then Naruto was jumping onto its body and running up its neck. When he hurled himself over its face he fired a Rasenshuriken point blank into its skull, making it rock back in pain.

Naruto landed on the ground and tried summoning the might of the new Kyuubi, but was forced to give it up when he got no reaction and the Juubi hurled another Bijuu Ball at him. Naruto used the Hiraishin again to escape, before firing off another assort of Rasenshuriken that brought the Juubi to its knees.

Before he could attack though, the Beast's mental arm reached out and grabbed him up in its clutch. It brought Naruto to its face and sneered down at him. Naruto glared up at it and spat in its face. The beast just roared, and began squeezing with its hands. Naruto screamed as he felt his mental bones creaking at the feeling of being squashed. He could barely breathe, and as he felt bones snapping he felt the darkness creeping in on him.

It would be so easy to give up, Naruto knew, but he was a defiant little bastard. He struggled against its hold, but couldn't gain perchance. The beast roared and raised its other hand to cover his head and began pressing him together. Naruto groaned as he felt more bones popping, the pressure building. Unless he could figure a way to escape its hold there would be no surviving this, and then the Beast would be back, more powerful then ever as it added the power of the new Kyuubi into its own reserves. The darkness began creeping back again, and unbidden, Naruto felt his eyes clutching together. A great rush of exhaustion began overtaking him. Sleep was coming...

His eyes were just shutting tight when his rebellious mind woke up once more, this time by triggering a single memory in his mind.

_"You better come back, alright, mister?"_

Naruto sucked in a surge of air, heedless of the Juubi's grip on him. A great fury overwhelmed him as he realized that this _thing_ was all that stood between him and Hinata. His rage fueled his limbs, feeding strength into him, and with a defiant scream Naruto began pushing at the fingers clutching him.

With each inch that he gained Naruto relived all his memories of his life; all the happy moments, all the sad, all his victories, and his failures. He relived the day of his graduation, felt the joy of passing. Then meeting his team for the first time; and his annoyance at their disregard of him. Then his first mission, his nindo. The chunin exams; his terror and the happiness of finding a proper instructor. Then the memory of the invasion, Sarutobi-jiji's death. And then Tsunade; finding acceptance. Then the abandonment of Sasuke; the betrayal. Then his adventures after his training trip; constantly improving his ninjutsu, growing closer to Sakura, Sai, Yamato, Kakashi, and all his other teammates. His confrontation with Sasuke. The death of Jiraiya. The Sage Training. Triumph. Meeting Obito. Fighting Madara, the Juubi. Neji's death. Learning of Tsunade's death. The death of the Leaf Village's council. Obito's death at the hands of the Juubi, Madara realizing that there was no hope to control it now that his only way to be reborn was gone. Sasuke returning with his father and the other Hokage; his father giving him the other half of the Kyuubi's chakra, making him stronger. Then the ten year war, always running from the Juubi, never actually killing it. Then allying with Sasuke and Madara. Sasuke's death. Sakura's suicide. Shikamaru's death, Temari's son. Gaara's death. Killer B's death, fusing the two bijuu, getting stronger. Hinata's injuries. More death. More failures. Naruto's eyes opened.

No more.

With a mighty surge of mental muscles Naruto roared and threw the Juubi's claws off of him. He fell, flipping head over end down and down into the void, before, with an explosion of willpower he came hurtling back out of the void at the Juubi.

The Juubi roared in challenge and lunged his way, the two of them meeting halfway. Naruto screamed his fury and hurled his fist forwards, his small fist impacting the Juubi's own massive fist. Impossibly, the Ten Tail's fist was stopped dead, before with an explosion of gore the beast's fist was blown off all the way down to the elbow, causing the beast to screech in pain. Naruto followed this up by pushing himself at the beast, speeding towards it faster then the speed of light and raising his fists out to point them at its stomach. With a resounding boom his fists hit the monster's stomach, before with nary a pause in forward momentum, Naruto sped through the Ten Tail's stomach and out the other end, turning to watch as the beast clutched the gaping hole in its abdomen.

It was in that moment that Naruto realized the truth. In this plain of existence, there was no physical differences between him and the Juubi. All that mattered was the willpower that they exerted over this mental plain. Their mind's literally shaped this world to their will. And while the Juubi's own animalistic fury gave it a force of will that was truly terrifying, it lacked the imagination and ingenuity that a human mind was capable of. It simply couldn't think outside of the boundaries of its physical body. Where as a human could imagine...and a human could dream.

With a roar of his fury, Naruto collected all of his simmering, repressed emotions, and pushed them up into a giant Rasenshuriken up above his head. In this massive construct of his mental will he poured all his hate, his anger, his sadness, his regret, his guilt, his loneliness, his love and his hope and compressed it into one giant, world ending ball of raw emotion and will. And then he aimed it at the Juubi and fired.

The resounding boom that erupted when the ball of Naruto's coalesced will exploded atop the Juubi's head was so intense that not only did it shake the foundations of this mind scape, but it caused a shock wave to erupt from the ball of chakra that Naruto and the Juubi were fighting in that toppled several of the surrounding mountains in the outside world and flattened whole forests for miles. Thankfully, the village was safe behind their mountain guardians, several miles away.

When the explosion receded Naruto let himself float the rest of the way down to the still form of the collapsed Juubi. From what he could see most of it was gone, only allowing a small portion of it to remain; the shattered remains of its skull, with its one eye whirling wildly around it before fearfully fixing onto his approaching form. Naruto felt a smile rise to his face, thinking that this was the first time that the Juubi had ever known fear. Silently, Naruto pressed his hand to the Juubi's massive forehead and shut his eyes, concentrating.

The cyclone outside the ball of chakra began to shrink as the chakra ball began to compress, slowly at first, before gaining speed, until it was roughly the size of a human. Then the chakra began taking shape, forming a loose representation of a human body, with arms, legs, a torso and a head. Finally, detail began forming as the chakra began forming a real physical body inside itself, forming a nervous system, skeleton, organs, muscles, and then, finally, skin and hair. Eventually, Naruto stood in the place of the chakra sphere, nude, and floating aimlessly in the sky,

Naruto raised his hands to his face, examining the smooth surface of his palms, feeling the power that was barely contained in his new limbs; the power of the Juubi, and the Kyuubi and Hachibi and his own human power fused together to become a force of might stronger then anything the Juubi was actually capable of. Naruto no longer felt human, only more like living chakra in the rough shape of a human being. The power contained in his limbs was comparable to a god, and it made him heady for a moment before he regained control over himself. He smiled thinly, before waving his hand and the winds of the tornado calmed and the storm surging around him stilled and quieted. The sky cleared, blue and pristine, and the sun peeked out to a new day.

Naruto then lazily tilted his new body towards the direction of the mountain village where the last of the ninja forces waited, and just seemed to glide through the air, almost as if gravity no longer affected him. Quickly he gained speed, until he was hovering over the village and was able to look upon it with new, enlightened eyes. Then he was drifting down, slowly slipping through the air. The people in the village below all looked up in the sky, pointing in his direction, and his new ears could hear each and everything they said as they wondered about him, who he was, what he was doing. When he eventually became close enough for them to make him out they all gasped in wonder and began to gather to greet him.

The moment he touched down on the ground the people of the village, be they ninja or civilian alike all nearly mobbed him as they surrounded him. Questioning and prodding for information, asking what happened to the Juubi and if there was finally peace. Naruto smiled and addressed them all happily.

"Yes, the Juubi is dead," he sucked in a breath and said, "now, we have peace." There was a great clamor as everyone in the village cheered this news, but before he could enjoy them moment with them he heard someone shout his name, and then a familiar slender form was barreling into him. Naruto had to quickly remember to let himself fall, or else Hinata would have shattered every bone in her body from how hard she rammed into him. Instead, he let out a "oof" before falling on his butt, listening as everyone gave a relieved laugh, and Hinata cried into his chest.

Only when Hinata pulled back and took in the sight of his body, a teasing smile coming to her face, did he remember that he was nude. And though he blushed he could tell that everyone was enjoying his embarrassment.

But still, he could live with a little embarrassment. Just a little. Especially with the way Hinata's eyes were eating his toned body up.

Yeah, definitely...

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To Be Continued...


	2. Call of the Wind

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto or any other fictional material herein; the only things that I own are original characters, themes, and plot lines. I have made no money off of this work, as this was written for entertainment purposes only. Thank you.

Enjoy:

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Kaze Noil: Winds of Change

Chapter II

Call of the Wind

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XXX

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+"Oh, he's so beautiful," a kind woman with doe eyes and tame brown haired commented as she peeked into the crib, a smile on her face. This woman was known as Ursa Mino, and she was a particularly kind young woman with a perfectly normal and boring life.

"Oh, that's what you think, but he's got the loudest wail of all," another woman commented as she hung back towards the bedroom's door and leaned against the wall with an amused expression on her pretty face. She was red haired and like the other woman was only just showing the signs of her ascent to maturity. She was pretty in an exotic kind of way; with pale skin, red hair, enchanting blue eyes that seemingly possessed no pupils, and a heart shaped face and a luxurious body that never failed to catch the attention of males everywhere. The woman heaved a tired sigh and claimed, "He's practically running me and and Jin ragged, not too mention that he eats like a horse. We can barely keep up!" she exclaimed, though there was no heat in her words. The two young women shared a knowing laugh.

"Weren't you the one that was so excited at the fact that you were going to be a mother, Funo?" Ursa questioned her friend. The red head, Funo, waved the notion aside dismissively, though there was a teasing smile on her face.

"Hai, hai, but that was before I knew how much work would be involved in taking care of the sprout. Even with Jin helping every step of the way, we can barely keep up. It seems like we're always so tired and little Shinji is always so wide awake and always fussing," she murmured. The two women cracked up and shared a laugh at Funo's expense, though. Finally, when they had calmed, Funo said, "Still, it's not all bad."

"Oh, you just wait till he's a teenager, then we'll see how 'bad' it is?" Ursa regarded her long time friend with amused eyes. They shared a smile, before Funo approached and tipped her head over the crib to look at the sleeping baby.

"Let me tell you, I'm not looking forward to it," Funo shook her head ruefully, as if she was aghast at the thought, "I'm leaving all _that_ awkwardness to Jin."

"Are you sure that's a wise idea?" Ursa smiled, watching her friend, "after all, you know how much of a pervert Jin is, don't you?" Funo growled, gripping the crib tightly, looking murderous.

"I've already told him that if he teaches our son to follow his ways that I'm going to castrate him. If he's smart then he'll listen," she remarked coldly. Then she smiled, and it seemed as if the spell that had fallen over her had lifted. Ursa arched an eyebrow thoughtfully.

"Right," Ursa nodded, popping her right hand into her left hand, "I'll have to remember that when I actually get a boyfriend." The two shared a look, before laughing quietly, not wanting to wake up little Shinji.

Outside, partially hidden behind a tree branch, Naruto idly observed this causal scene, a rush of nostalgia and remorse burning in his gut. Observing his extended family in their daily lives had become something of a pass time for the ageless shinobi. The immortal blond had paid careful attention to his estrange family, and despite thousands of years having past in remote monotony he knew each and every one of his descendants by name and face.

This girl, barely out of her youth, Funo Nara, was his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-gr eat-great-grandaughter. The years had been relatively kind for the Namikaze clan, and his bloodline had spread to all corners of the world as the human race repopulated the world after the destruction of the Juubi. Most of his descendants inherited either his features or the features shared by the Uzumaki clan, but sometimes Hinata's family traits would pop up. Funo, remarkably, looked like a young Hinata, except with red hair and blue eyes; eyes that were without pupils like Hinata's had been, and if Naruto had to guess, if the ability to manipulate chakra was still around then Funo and several of her brothers and sisters and distant cousins would be able to use the Byakyugan.

Naruto silently continued to watch as Funo and her friend, Ursa, disappeared from the room, and from what he heard had gone to the kitchen on the first floor to fetch a few refreshments. Naruto waited, but most of their conversation was idle and hardly held his attention. Naruto closed his eyes and shoved all his wavering emotions down to the deepest corner of his heart, that part of himself that he had locked away when he had to watch his great-great granddaughter die of old age; that part of him that was still fresh, raw, and aching, and wouldn't take much before it would bowl him over and overwhelm him. It was all he could do to contain his sorrow and his guilt.

Not even realizing it, Naruto raised his right hand to his face and examined the smooth palm with a note of contempt. Since the day that he had killed and absorbed the Juubi he hadn't aged at all. That probably had something to do with the fact that his flesh and blood was held together by his chakra and willpower, but despite knowing this he simply couldn't will himself to die or to age. No matter how hard he tried there always seemed to be something at the back of his mind holding him back. This simple gesture of holding his hand to his face had become so ingrained into his being that he did it without thought.

When he caught himself preforming the action the immortal ninja scowled and then stuffed his hand into his cloak, the very same one that he had worn when he had returned to the Leaf Village after his Sage Training and fought Pain that not only honored his father but was a mark of his mastery of his Sage Training. It had become something iconic of his figure. In the years following the Juubi's death Naruto had worn it proudly, finally comfortable in the shoes his father left him. Even after the death of his beloved Hinata, and their children, and their grandchildren and great-grandchildren he had continued wearing it, more as a security blanket then anything else. It was one of the few things that remained of his old life that connected him to his family and the life that was ripped from him.

Naruto heaved a sigh, and silently rose up off the tree trunk, straight into the air. From the sight of him, floating aimlessly in the air, it didn't appear as if he was using a jutsu to compel himself into the air, but rather that gravity had ceased to work on him and let him choose his own direction to fall. The blond hovered there, looking between the house that his descendant lived, and the open sky. With hardly an exertion of his willpower he quietly ascended into the heavens.

Up and up and up he went, until the sky was brilliantly blue, he was equal with the fluffy white lumps known as clouds, and the sight of the village where one of his last ties to this world lived was just a speck. Up here even his hearing was silent, calm, quiet. Up hear he was alone, secluded...isolated.

"After all these years, and still no change," he murmured, looking surprisingly calm despite all the raw emotions swirling in the back of his mind. Without another word he pointed his hand into a random direction and took off so suddenly that it almost seemed as if he blinked out of existence. However, the air was aware of the sudden removal of matter, and naturally physics reacted to this sudden burst of speed by making the displaced air snap back to their previous spot with a glass shattering boom, and the clouds that dotted the sky exploded across the horizon as the force of the sonic boom pushed them aside.

The hundreds of years going at this speed had allowed the immortal blond to adjust properly. His eyes no longer strained to keep up with the world, instead slowing the world to a crawl around him and allowing him to make split second discussions even though, mentally, he was taking hours at a time to ponder each and every action he took. Luckily, he had figured out how to turn this "super-speed" off, so to speak, and so with most life he could function normally. But he had no patience to crawl across the sky when he had already seen every part of this world hundreds of times before; soaring over the tallest skies, diving into the deepest parts of the ocean, and treading through the darkest part of the forests. He had literally seen it all.

Which is why the punch to his face came as such a shock. Then came the pain.

Naruto went spiraling head over tail through the air as the force of the blow made him temporarily loose control of his ability for flight. When he eventually managed to right himself he could make out the light's in the small village below him, and he was a few miles away and below the figure that had ambushed him. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto focused, and was able to adjust his vision to magnify the person far off into the distance.

The person was a male, that much was obvious. He was slightly taller then Naruto, maybe about six feet and five inches, versus Naruto's six feet and two inches. He was also bulkier then the blond, looking to weigh about two hundred to three hundred pounds of solid muscle. His clothing was reminiscent of a ninja, though crossed with a monk. All armor and robes, with a straw hat and traditional wood sandals. He clutched a simple staff in his left hand, the alloy that it had been forged from indecipherable to the immortal. Finally, the man had a mane of long, platinum white hair, glowing blue eyes, and a pale, distinctively handsome face.

It seemed that the man noticed Naruto's gaze upon him, for in the next moment the man was surging towards him at speeds only Naruto was capable of. Instead of fleeing from this unknown, Naruto felt a wave of excitement rise up in his gut as he realized that he had _finally_ found an equal in battle; not only with the ability for flight, but with his same speed and strength. With a loud battle cry Naruto rushed forwards, intending to meet the white haired monk head on.

The two met half way, fists impacting each other's faces and causing a shock wave to spread out from the two of them, causing the clouds around them to scatter as they both went soaring away, unable to maintain their altitude because of the force of their blows. Naruto caught himself and pushed himself forwards, speeding through the sky at the man. The monk, for his part, met his charge head on, whirling his staff at the blond ninja. Naruto ducked and threw a fist that the man dodged before bringing his staff down. Naruto spun and lashed out a kick that blew the man back, and followed up by charging at the man's prone body. But the white haired monk regained his footing and flipped, his feet smacking into Naruto's chin and making him tumble through the air as he lost his momentum.

When Naruto regained his footing, figuratively speaking, of course, he realized that he was panting for the first time in over a thousand years. And from the looks of things the monk was fairing no better, either. Though the conflict between them had been short, it had taken a lot out of them as they were evenly matched, and each blow caused bones to crack and expelled a lot of energy. Not too mention, this was the first aerial battle that Naruto had ever fought. A fight between the two of them would clearly not be easily won.

"You're good," Naruto grunted. With his telescopic vision he could see the man give a pleased smile, before a bolt of lightning crashed down from the clear sky and struck the man. There was a crackle of energy behind him, and Naruto was whirling around as another bolt of lightning teleported the man behind him.

"Why thank you," the man offered, in an unsurprisingly sophisticated voice, as he brushed imaginary dust off his robes and then turned his attention to the immortal, "But I must say...you aren't too shabby yourself."

"Thanks, I think," Naruto said after a moment of silence stretched between the two of them. The awkwardness was uncanny. Just what was one to say to someone who had the powers that this man obviously displayed thanking and complimenting them after a short but fierce battle?

"You should feel proud," the man said, as if he was delivering some great secret, "after all, you just went toe to toe with a god."

"Wait, WHAT?" Naruto exclaimed, the shock making him momentarily loose control of his flight and making him drop a few feet before righting himself.

"I am Raijin: the God of Thunder," then he pointed to Naruto, intoning, "Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, we have been watching you..."

* * *

XXX

* * *

"'O f'sh," Naruto muttered, still reeling over the last few hours. He was seated on a simple chair that was more of a stool, at a table that was more of an upturned bucket, sitting next to the gods Raijin and Suijin, both of which were completely drunk and were having a hard time focusing on their cards on an island that was more of a dome of sand, in the middle of a sea. How Naruto got to this point was anyone's guess, but he distantly thought it had something to do with Raijin commenting about getting a "friend" to help him explain something, something that he had thought was important, but it was kind of hard to remember such details when Naruto was also pleasantly drunk. Absently, Naruto reached for his saucer of sake.

"W'sh idea wez itsh ta' play t'is gam' an..." Suijin started to say, before burping loudly and sighing with relief. Then he seemed to gather himself and continued, saying, "anewae's?"

Naruto pointed at Raijin.

"Whut? Itsh funneh!" Raijin gurgled, looking pretty steamed that they didn't find it as funny that they were playing go fish with a God of Water on a tiny island in the middle of the sea. He squinted his eyes past Naruto, though, when something caught his eye. Then he stood, stumbled, and then threw his arms into the air, "Oooh, wh's t'at?" both Naruto and Suijin turned and regarded the tiny speck in the distance, and if Naruto was in a better state of mind he might have been able to use his vision to look at the speck more closely. Instead, Suijin gave another burp, pat his belly and decided to enlighten the non-godly immortal.

"Ish Ryujin, yes!" he chirped, before slumping to the ground and snoring right away. Naruto stared at the sleeping, drunken god incredulously, but could barely stand up himself so he decided to sit back and wait for this other god to approach.

Quickly the speck in the distance took form; the shape of pale face with long, dark red hair and violent black eyes. Then, once the shape coasted into the shallows a set of shoulders climbed from the waters, then a torso and arms, and then legs, and finally feet as this new god, this Ryujin character, stood silently on the beach, the froth of the waves buffering his ankles, water dripping from his wet body and hair, and seaweed sticking to obscene places. Naruto couldn't help cackling, which was joined by Raijin as the self proclaimed Thunder God stuffed a hand into his mouth.

This Ryujin just glowered their way, dark eyes glinting in the dark as if they were daggers. Then he took a step forward and shoved Raijin aside and climbed onto a stool, snatching a saucer of sake up and taking a long sip. He lowered the warm dish from his lips and gave a long, pleased sigh.

"Bunch of idiots," the dark god growled lowly, before fixing his eyes on Naruto, who smiled drunkenly at him. "You, Juubi, did these buffoons even offer a token of an explanation as to why you were brought here?"

"Umm..." Naruto's smile fell, before he grinned and raised a sake glass, "booze?" at this answer a smile, minuscule smile tugged at the god's lips, before falling into such a look of seriousness that it stunned the immortal ninja back into soberness. Then he immediately toppled to the floor, groaning.

"Thought not," the god grunted. Ryujin gave a long suffering look Raijin and Suijin's way, before turning his attention back to the blond. "They always have a way of letting their orders get away from them. No matter, I've brought something to fix you lot up," and then Ryujin dug into one of his swim trunk's pockets and pulled out a simple vial, which he uncorked before shoving it under the blond ninja's nose, making him gag and push the god away.

"Gods, what the FUCK is that shit!" Naruto held his nose, eyes watering at the scent of whatever the hell that was. But Ryujin didn't answer, and instead went to Raijin and Suijin and made them both smell whatever it was, making them turn aside and puke the contents of their stomachs, before pushing the dark god aside. Watching this, Naruto became aware of a pulse pounding headache in his temple. He held his head and groaned.

"What the fuck, it gets rid of the buzz but not the hangover? What sadistic shit is that?" Naruto spat. Ryujin spared him a look.

"Well, you wouldn't learn if you weren't punished for your actions, would you? And what better punishment then your body's natural reactions?" Ryujin remarked. Slowly, Raijin and Suijin clamored to their feet and tried to tidy themselves up.

"Can never get used to that crap," Suijin grunted, and smoothed his wild brown hair down before turning his attention to Ryujin, "I didn't realize that the old bat were so impatient to see the kid," Naruto twitched at the casual insult thrown his way, having not felt like a kid in over a thousand years.

"The loss of one of our own is a big deal, you know? And finding a replacement for them is especially hard. We were expecting to have to wait a few thousand years before someone showed the potential to become a god, not just have one waiting for the picking. Everyone's eager to greet him," Ryujin commented idly. Naruto twitched as he said all this, slowly putting together the pieces of why he was there.

"No matter. A small bump in the road, yes, but he'll be there in no time. And we're gods, we have all the time in the multi-verse, you know?" Raijin said offhandedly, as if disregarding this concern entirely, "We'll be heading off in a few seconds, anyways," he commented.

"All the same, I'd like this business cleared up," Ryujin stated seriously. He gave the two gods a long look before turning to Naruto with an equally serious expression on his face, "I expect you to be on your best behavior."

"Of course, _mother_," Naruto hissed. Ryujin's eyebrow arched, and a smirk rose to his lips.

"Hmph, cute..." and then he departed from them, sinking back into the sea. Raijin and Suijin shared a meaningful look before the Water God straightened.

"Well, s'pose I should be going now, too, things to do, and all that," Suijin told his fellow god, before turning to Naruto, "it was nice to properly greet you before the other's could sink their claws into you. It provided me a unique perspective, I dare say. Thank you," and with that he turned and disappeared into the waves, too.

"What was all that about?" Naruto directed the question Raijin's way. The Thunder God took a moment to examine the sea, before shaking himself.

"There's a lot of things wrong with the heavens, Naruto-kun," Raijin said by way of explanation, "we've been at war with several other pantheons for so long that it's made all of us weary. And with the death of one of our own we're feeling on edge and anxious to consolidate our powers...you present a unique and interesting opportunity, you see. Very fortuitous for us, yes," Raijin muttered, stroking his chin. He then drew up his robes and held his hand towards Naruto.

"Come, all will be explained to you when we arrive. But I'm afraid that haste is now most definitely required if my brother was sent to collect us," Raijin told him. Naruto hesitated to concede, and the Thunder God looked to him imploringly. "Please, trust me on this. All will be revealed when we get there." After a few moments of inner debate Naruto reached towards the god. Just as his fingers brushed against the god's hand a crackle of thunder burst overhead, and then there was a flash of light.

And then they were gone...

* * *

XXX

* * *

Naruto could barely stand on his feet once they appeared again. Raijin helped to steady him, and when the blond had managed to contain his brief burst of dizziness he waved the Thunder God off. The godly monk took a step back and Naruto then took the time to examine the long length of the pathway that they were on. There was no roof above them, the sweeping pathway open to the elements, and from what he could see of this place, wherever they were, was high enough that the clouds were at eye level, creating a sort of mist around the pathway.

"Come along, Naruto," Raijin bade the immortal along. The two quickly fell in step as they headed down the path. As they covered the distance Naruto could see plenty of statues and mosaics dedicated to one particular god of some kind. Naruto briefly thought that they were walking inside a temple, but placed the thought aside as he focused his attention on the white haired god.

"So, uh, where are we going?" he directed this question to the god-monk. Raijin seemed to be reflecting on his words for but a moment before he answered.

"We're heading towards the council chambers," he instructed. Then the both of them stepped through a doorway and they paused to take in the sight of the room. The main theme of the room seemed to be the moon, as there was multiple depictions of the moon, the night sky, odd trinkets upon tables, and astronomy books on shelves, and even a telescope on the far wall directly aimed out of the nearby window. In one lone corner was the statue of a man that possessed an aristocratic face and long hair tied into a braid, dressed in ornate robes.

"Tsukuyomi no Mikoto's shrine – a simple place that he set up to give him a place to think and dwell on his own 'brilliance'," Raijin commented, shooting a smile Naruto's way. The immortal fought a smile, eventually settling down as he adopted a stoic expression. Raijin nodded absently. "Just a little further..."

The next few rooms that they entered were either dedicated to a particular god or goddess, or were a hallway that led into more rooms that neither of them visited. Soon they were padding down a long staircase into a grand hall, and then finally into an elegant sitting room where a number of people were waiting for their arrival.

There was a total of fourteen people, gods, not counting Raijin who was in step with Naruto. At Naruto's and Raijin's entrance the gods turned to them with varying levels of interest. Naruto idly waved while Raijin stepped forward.

"Will someone please tell me what all the rush is about?" Raijin remarked as his own greeting. Several of the male gods looked at him with thinly veiled annoyance at his blasé attitude, though a few were grinning. The women, on the other hand, were looking on with a certain level of amusement.

"Sit," a male god said, one that looked older then the rest of the men at the table, with graying black hair and sharp, intelligent black eyes. He leaned back in his chair and covered his hands over his lap. Raijin didn't say much else as he sat at one of the two empty seats at the table, making Naruto uncomfortably aware that all the attention was directed at him. One of the goddesses at the table, with vibrant red hair and brilliant azure eyes, stood to greet him.

"Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, please, sit, sit," the woman said, smiling gently at his expression, and carting him over to the one free seat at the table. Her fingers dug into his shoulders as she pushed him into the chair, and then she was moving back to her own seat. "We've heard so much about you, dear," the goddess said once she had seated herself again. Naruto eyed her, well aware of all the gazes studying him intently, "You are probably wondering why you're here, yes?"

"Something like that," he said, placing his hands onto the table before him and focusing his attention on the goddess that he was conversing with so he wouldn't see the others looking at him with all their attention. The woman nodded, looking as if she expected as much. Naruto pursed his lips as he thought of something to say. "It's a bit unexpected to have literal gods approach me, a mortal, for anything."

"Ah, yes, but we all know that you aren't a mere mortal anyways," she regarded him thoughtfully, placing her chin on her palm as she studied the immortal, "after all, as the Juubi you are so much more then a human. And yet you still think of yourself as one. How curious..." she remarked, as if she found the blond wholly mysterious and intensely attractive. Then she said, "I'm afraid, though, that this isn't a 'social call', as the mortals say. We're in a bit of a spot, you see..." she trailed off.

"That's from what I gathered," Naruto commented, agreeing with her assessment. "Everyone is so secretive, but I've managed to piece a few things together. Something about a war?" he questioned the goddess.

"Yes," the red haired goddess agreed, "we've been at war with a few pantheons for thousands of years now. It's why we couldn't help out with that mess with the Juubi..." she apologized, and Naruto nodded his thanks, "but now we are in a bit of trouble. Recently, one of our own, Fujin, was killed by the God of War, Ares, and now we have our power threatened..."

"Why is that?" he asked, noticing the remorse on every god's face as they remembered their fallen brother.

"With the death of one of our own, the other Pantheons see this as a sign of weakness, and will no doubt try to take full advantage of it," she told him honestly. She studied him for a moment, before saying, "As you can guess, we cannot allow such a thing, and so we've been looking for a replacement for him."

Naruto mulled this information over, being able to guess why he was there now. He shook his head ruefully and sighed.

"What would you have of me?" he asked softly. He didn't miss the smiles that the gods shared between each other.

"As the human incarnation of the Juubi you are very near a god yourself," the woman, the goddess commented. He absorbed this information quietly, listening as she continued, "but of course you aren't a true god since despite your power and immortality you're missing some key things that we gods possess. Still, your affinity for wind is so great now, even greater because of your rise to become the Juubi, you might as well be called the God of Wind. So, after reviewing your history and your heart we decided that you'd make a perfect replacement for Fuijin," she explained.

Naruto took this information in quietly, shutting his eyes and softly nodding his head every few words as if he was trying to decide what to do. Eventually, once she finished her little impromptu speech he opened his eyes and spoke.

"You sure you want that? I'm a bit...damaged, after all. There's no telling if I'd be able to take the power of a god well," he told her truthfully. More smiles were shared and Naruto felt his eyebrow twitch in annoyance at whatever they seemed to be able to share with just a glance. Having been married for a good number of years to a loving wife, Naruto knew that it was possible for people to know each other so well that they can speak without words just by a glance.

"That you're worried about that just shows that you'll be perfect for the job," the goddess elaborated, her face splitting into a million watt smile. "Trust me, if you were so easily swayed by power you would have taken the chance without question. Besides, there really won't be much of a power boost. What you'll really be getting is the few abilities that make us what we are, such as a certain control over an element, and a basic ability to manipulate reality at will. Where you go from there is anyone's guess...but we have high hopes for you..." Naruto took this all in silently, mind churning with thoughts. Then he nodded.

"So...suppose I do this...would I be able to visit the dead?" he asked. The gods around the table shared another meaningful look, before the goddess nodded.

"You'd have to talk to the Shinigami, but I don't see a problem with that," said the red haired goddess that he was speaking to. "After all, as a god you are afforded certain...liberties, should I say?" she hinted at something, but what it was Naruto couldn't really tell. "In any case, so long as you don't try and revive the dead you shouldn't come into conflict with Shinigami-sama," she told him simply. Naruto nodded.

Naruto had often dreamed of seeing his precious Hinata, his children, their children, and his great-grandchildren and friends and family again for so long that he'd actively begun looking for a way to commit suicide to join them. But of course it was never so easy, as no matter what he tried he always survived. Not even drowning worked, or complete and utter obliteration with a Bijuu Ball worked. He'd almost given up hope of ever seeing them again. But this offer, to become a god, gave him a chance he hadn't hoped for. Even if he couldn't die, he'd still be able to visit them in the realm of the dead. It was almost too good to be true.

Naruto drew in a calming breath and worked to unclench his fists on the table, intending to relax his posture. The gods were watching him silently, waiting to see his choice. Finally, the immortal looked back to the goddess he had been speaking to, and asked, "Okay...how does it work?"

* * *

XXX

* * *

Naruto woke up a few days later, confined to a fluffy, comfortable four poster bed that was big enough to fit five people comfortably. He looked around the room he was in before slowly climbing out of the bed and regarding himself in the mirror of the bedroom that they had dedicated to him.

From what he could see not much had changed about him since his "transformation", aside from the blue swirl on each of his cheeks, replacing the whisker-like scars that he had possessed nearly all his life. Even his eyes had remained the same remarkably enchanting blue that they had always been, and his hair was just as wild and blond as he remembered. Naruto studied his nude form for a few moments, before conjuring a set of plain robes and putting them on, before moving about the room to find some proper clothing.

Eventually he came out of the connected bath, refreshed and strangely at ease in roughly over a thousand years. He drifted out of his room, silently stalking the hallways of the ethereal temple that the gods had claimed as their home, until he found Raijin quietly conversing with a small goddess with distinctively vulpine features, looking almost fox-like. As he approached the two of them turned to him.

"Ah, just the man I wanted to see," remarked the Thunder God as he threw an arm around the blond's shoulders and offered an apology to the goddess, "Sorry, Inari, but we should continue this conversation later. I have something to show this fool..." the Fox Goddess nodded, grinning widely.

"Of course, Rai-kun. I have matters to attend to myself," she offered an explanation, before turning her gaze on Naruto who stiffened at the look in her eyes, "Though I expect you to bring this fine specimen over for some tea some time...yes?" Raijin nodded at her words, smirking from ear to ear.

"Course, Inari, but as I said, things to do," and he began urging Naruto out of the hallway and deeper into the temple as they left the Foxy woman behind. Naruto absorbed this with an calm exterior but with an nervous interior. Raijin seemed to notice his condition, and sighed, "Don't worry about her. She just likes to tease everyone and anyone. It's best to ignore her advances, since it's better for your health. Anyways, let's hurry..."

"Why? Is something the matter?" Naruto questioned. Raijin stroked his chin as Naruto fell in step with him. He seemed to be mulling over whether he should tell Naruto whatever it was that was bothering him.

Finally sighing, the God of Thunder began, "Kami-sama called for a meeting between the pantheons in order to determine if you are worthy of being a god," Naruto drew this in quietly, only stumbling once, before returning to the same pace that Raijin was keeping. "Don't worry, though, once we get what we're looking for you'll be more then a match for any god, and they'll have to accept you regardless."

"And how can you be so sure of that?" Naruto asked, truly curious about the other man's reasoning. Raijin shrugged.

"With the power from the Juubi, the little boost that you got from your ascension to godhood, and the power you're going to get from your inheritance you'd have to be a fool to challenge you..." Raijin stroked his chin thoughtfully as he studied his fellow god with interest, and then nodded his head. "The only three gods that I'd seriously be worried about is Kami, Yami, and the Shinigami, all of which have the combined power of a single pantheon of gods combined in themselves. They're simply the strongest gods that exist, and as such they belong to no pantheon," he explained the history of the three elder gods. Naruto absorbed this quickly, nodding once Raijin finished his tale, knowing that he'd have to be especially careful around them.

The rest of the trip was uneventful, before they arrived at a simple shrine that was dedicated to the previous Shinto Wind God, Fuijin. The sight of his statue, depicting an Oni with a massive blade over one shoulder caused Naruto to pause, until he spotted the prone form of the very same sword strewn over an altar that the both of them approached. Raijin knelt before the shrine and prayed for his deceased friend's soul. Then he climbed to his feet and motioned to the blade.

"This is Kamikaze: the Divine Wind," Raijin explained, indicating for Naruto to step forward, "it's a blade made of wind that has been compressed to the point that it became a solid metal. Not only is it an immensely powerful weapon on its own, but it holds the bulk of Fuijin's power, waiting for his heir to claim it," Raijin said. Naruto stared at the blade with mute awe, before Raijin pushed him towards it and instructed, "Pick it up."

Cautiously, Naruto reached for the blade, his senses filled with the fury of the wind that the blade contained. How Fuijin had managed to compress such a raging storm into his blade Naruto couldn't say. Obviously, the previous Wind God's powers far exceeded his own. He had a lot to learn.

Sweaty fingers slowly wrapped around the three foot long hilt of the massive zanbato blade, feeling the power of the wind pulse through the length of the hilt and into his body. Naruto's ears were suddenly filled with the rhythmic sound of a heart pumping, the thump-thump of a heartbeat filling his mind as he slowly worked to pulled the blade up off the altar. It popped free from its resting place easily, and Naruto held it aloft with a mystified expression on his face. Instinctively, Naruto knew that wielding the blade would be immensely difficult even with his own height of six foot and two inches. To properly wield the blade he'd have to be well over seven feet, maybe even closer to eight feet. As if sensing his thoughts the blade thrummed with life, and a pulse of power poured from the blade and into his hand, slithering through his arm and up his shoulder until it filled his heart. And suddenly Naruto was aware, and alive in ways he couldn't ever dream. And then a strangled roar ripped from his throat as his body began stretching and muscles began expanding to impossible sizes.

In seconds, a tall, heavily muscled form appeared in the place of the blond god. It was roughly seven foot and ten inches in height, with light blue skin and appearing to be over five hundred pounds of solid muscle that stretched over its long form like snakes coiled over a tree trunk. A wild mane of white hair spilled from the creature's head that cascaded down and over its shoulders, untamed and strikingly white. The creature had glowing red eyes, and large tusks jutted out of the beast's mouth. It was gloriously hideous, frightening in a way only a beast of war and destruction could ever be. Then it lugged the sword, Kamikaze, over its shoulders and turned to Raijin with barely a show of strain in its face.

"I see what you mean," the Oni growled out, its voice rough and deep as it studied the Thunder God. Raijin examined the new Wind God's Oni form with a thin smile of pride. Then he was shifting into a remarkably similar form, though with red skin, blue eyes, and black hair. The Oni form of the Thunder God tapped its Thunder staff on the floor a few times, before erupting into great, thunderous laughter, like the clap of a storm about to strike.

"It's par for the course, Young Naruto," the Oni, Raijin chortled as it stepped away from the blond and towards the hallway that led outside, "but come, we shall explore your new powers in the mortal world. For we are the storm, and it is a beautiful thing..."

The Oni that was Naruto agreed, and then they disappeared with the crackle of thunder and the roar of the wind...

* * *

To Be Continued...


	3. Gale

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto or any other fictional material herein; the only things that I own are original characters, themes, and plot lines. I have made no money off of this work, as this was written for entertainment purposes only. Thank you.

Enjoy:

* * *

Kaze Noil: Winds of Change

Chapter III

Gale

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XXX

* * *

Thunder boomed across the sky; large arcs of light bursting across a dim, murky fluff. The wind was a howl, shrieking its fury across the skies, battering all who were foolish enough to remain outside at this time of night. And the rain was like knives of ice, stabbing into the backs of whichever hapless human would dare to defy nature's forces. But this torrent, this raging gale of nature also brought something else; rejuvenating the land with each drop of water spilt and flooding valleys with nourishment as mudslides brought needed minerals into the vegetation. Tonight, the world slept, only to be born again anew tomorrow.

Naruto swirled his large, fan like zanbato sword through the air, causing currents of wind to explode away from the blade of the sword with each stroke of his mighty, blue arms. His red eyes drank in the splendor of the world, somehow being able to see details that had previously been obscured from even his Juubi-enhanced gaze. Shapes, colors, textures and currents in the air became apparent to him. Even the range of heat and light became a plethora of experience to the new god. With each whirl of his arms he expelled great founts of wind that rushed away from him to join the thunder that Raijin was sending his way. When the two forces would meet, there came the crack of thunder, the howl of the wind, and freezing rain fell from the union to pour across the lands.

It was beautiful.

Time lost all meaning as the ex-ninja rejoiced in the simple pleasures of nature. To his ears, enlightened by his assent to godhood and then the bonding of his sword: Kamikaze, the world seemed to sing in praise of his deeds. As if the very facet of life recognized his efforts and gave thanks to him through voice. The billions of voices cascaded together, blending and harmonizing and becoming a symphony of sound that spurred him onwards. He drew this in, and began to move against the music, shifting from form to form in the most basic, crude, of dances.

Raijin took notice of the euphoria on his face, it seemed, as the Thunder God paused in his own dance to regard the new god with a knowing expression. At the sight of this, Naruto paused in his rough dance, the shambling of his muscled form coming to a stop as the howls of the wind began to recede.

"It's overwhelming, I know," the Thunder God remarked, looking amused as he drifted slightly towards the other god. "The first time you hear them is always a bit too much..."

"What are they?" Naruto asked, glancing to the dark mass below that was the human world that they were raining upon.

"They are the spirits of the land," Raijin responded, looking thoughtful, "the so called 'Kami'..."

"I thought you said that there was only one Kami," Naruto questioned, looking like he was trying to understand a great secret, which wasn't so surprising. The monk nodded.

"Technically speaking, we 'gods' are all Kami," he said, and forestalled Naruto's next words by raising his hand, "Essentially, spirits who hold a certain power over nature. There are many, many that exist, but very few that actually possess names and a personality of their own, and therefore are worshiped by the humans. Those would be what we call gods..." Raijin explained. Naruto's brow furrowed.

"Then how was I able to become a god?" Naruto directed the question his way, intensely trying to understand the unusual world of gods, "I was, after all, a human." Raijin shrugged.

"Kami exist in all things," he instructed plainly, lowering his bamboo hat over his blue eyes. "Even humans are Kami, to an extent. However, humans, and animals, as you will, are mortal, and when they die their spirit, their 'Kami' is taken by the Shinigami to the Reikai. It is very rare for a human to be able to ascend to a true god, as the kind of power required for that change is ridiculous. You're the first one to do so since the Greek hero Herakles ascended. Of course, he was a demigod, so his ascension wasn't so surprising as your own," Raijin explained patiently. He took his staff up and examined it with keen eyes, "Though I suppose your fusion with the demon Juubi may have ranked you as a demigod already, but that's really all happenstance now, isn't it?" he turned back to Naruto.

"So...there's Mortals, Kami, and Demons," Naruto said, as if wrestling with something great, "So why is there a god known as _the_ 'Kami' and not, say, something else?" he questioned. Raijin sighed.

"That takes a bit of explaining," Raijin said carefully. He thought of his next words for a few moments before beginning, "Suppose we say that each of the gods hold power over a certain force of the world; and that there's several gods in several pantheons who hold the same powers. Then suppose that there is a power, a position of rule so great that it would be dangerous to give that power to just _any_ god. That's where Kami, Yami, and the Shinigami come in," said Raijin gravely. Naruto listened raptly.

"Kami was given the rule of the Realm of Gods, to which all Gods call home," explained the Thunder God, "Yami was given the rule of the Maikai, the Demon Realm, if you will. And finally, the Shinigami was given the rule of the Reikai, the Spirit Realm."

"But who gave them these positions and why?" Naruto pointed out. Raijin nodded, tapping his hat.

"Good question," Raijin chuckled, "That honor belongs to the First Goddess; the Megami: the Mother Goddess," he elaborated. Naruto frowned. "Technically speaking, there is one god above all others, even the 'Big Three', you see. And that is the Megami. But she disappeared a long, long time ago, and no one has any idea where she is. So, the positions of managing the four plains fell to the Big Three, which is a damn shame really since most of the responsibilities for the various mortal worlds gets shouldered off to us lesser gods," Raijin shrugged with bemusement, "What can you do?"

"So there was a god in charge of the mortal realms?" Naruto asked. Raijin smiled.

"The Ningenkai, the so called 'human realm'," Raijin said dutifully. He rolled his tongue thoughtfully, "Yes, I suppose that position belonged to the Megami before her disappearance. Since then, it's been regulated to the various pantheons. Your world was only one of the many that we, the Shinto Pantheon have been charged to watch over," he explained.

"I...see..." Naruto quieted down.

"I'd say that it is time for us to depart," Raijin told the new god, lifting his staff and motioning to the sky, "I dare say any more of our rabble and we might do more harm then good for this world. Let us be off, then, shall we?" Raijin turned and began floating away. Naruto nodded, took one last look at the see of darkness below him, and then began trailing behind the other god as they departed the mortal realm.

* * *

XXX

* * *

"You've caused quite the stir, you know," was the first thing that Inari said once she found him training his new god powers in the training fields of the God Temple. At this, Naruto grunted and swept his mammoth sword through the air while focusing a funnel of wind across the blade to produce a hurricane. The Fox Goddess watched him intently for several moments, before she stepped towards him. Seeing this, Naruto paused in his kata, lowered his blade, and turned to her.

"I was under the impression that it was necessary for me to be converted into a god?" Naruto questioned, taking several deep breaths. At this, Inari nodded, smiling.

"Oh, it was," Inari shrugged unhelpfully, before stepping towards the large Oni, appearing even smaller when compared to the large beast, "but that doesn't stop the other pantheons from claiming that we're breaking rules turning 'mortals' into gods...thankfully, their argument holds no sway really since we all know that you weren't a mortal when we found you, anyways..." she hummed, and reached for Naruto's hand on his blade. Seeing this, the Oni took a single, large step back.

"Is there something you wanted?" Naruto asked gruffly, trying to ignore the way that the goddess's eyes were eating him up. Inari smiled and took another small step towards him.

"Only you," she breathed, the hint of teasing and lust prevalent in her voice. Naruto turned away from her and backed off.

"Perhaps you should leave," the normally blond man said quietly. He could feel Inari's eyes on him, making him feel strangely both comforted and awkward at the same time. The woman pursued him for several moments, before managing to press him against a wall as she stared heatedly at him.

"Don't take me for a harlot," Inari warned him, eyes humored, "cause I'm not about to shag you when it's obvious that you're still dealing with your own baggage." She shrugged, looking amused, "After all, we each have our own baggage to contend with..." so saying, she took a step back and watched him intently.

"Then what was that for?" Naruto wondered aloud as he allowed his Oni form to recede, placing him back in his "human" body. At his words, Inari chuckled, shaking her head.

"I'm the Goddess of Foxes, meaning that I'm territorial," Inari warned, giving a fox like smile that was eerily similar to Naruto's own smile, "Both Uzume and Toyotama have shown interest in courting you, so I felt like staking my claim," the Fox Goddess explained. At this, Naruto smacked his palm into his face, feeling frustrated beyond belief at the ridiculousness of his situation.

"Is that all?" Naruto finally asked with certain amounts of trepidation. At this, Inari gave a unhelpful shrug.

"No," the Goddess said, breaking the other god from his thoughts, "I also wanted to tell you that Inzanagi and Inzanami and their three oldest children will be meeting with the other pantheons and the 'Big Three' later today to discuss your inclusion among us gods," she smiled sympathetically, and offered a hand on his shoulder, saying, "You'll probably be asked to be interviewed by the Big Three to determine your worth as a god..." Naruto nodded in acceptance.

"I see..." he said quietly, before offering apologetic eyes towards the woman, "thank you for this..."

"Anytime," Inari claimed, smiling widely as she took a step back, "Just remember that you aren't alone now, okay?" Naruto nodded, and Inari gave him one lingering look before departing from the training fields.

Naruto thought about her words for several prolonged moments, before shrugging and transforming back into his Oni form. Then he started his kata back up where he left off, slashing and lunging with his massive blade with a finesse that was as surprising for his large form as it was humbling. He was just in the process of slashing out a chain of wind blades when Raijin stepped into the room, accompanied by Ryujin and Suijin.

"Well, we have to give you respect for your determination," Raijin commented, just as Naruto was ending the kata. Once he had lowered his sword, Naruto turned to the collected group of gods interestedly.

"Your skills in using your godly powers are progressing nicely," Ryujin said, studying the Oni's tired form intently. Then, as if an epiphany had struck him, he stepped towards Naruto while shrugging off his own coat. He took a loose stance a few meters away from the Wind God, and Naruto watched as the air rippled as the Water Dragon summoned an ice sword into his hands.

"Naruto," said Ryujin intently, a smirk coming to his face, "I'd like you to meet Frostmourn," and so saying, the human shaped dragon rushed the Oni.

At the sudden action, Naruto put the length of his own massive blade between them, and the two swords collided with enough of an impact that it shook both combatants. Naruto ground his teeth and shoved his weight against his blade, the blow knocking Ryujin back as the Water Dragon tried to right his footing.

"Give a guy a warning, why don't you?" even while he said this, Naruto whirled onto his assailant, summoning a gust of wind around the length of his zanbato and slamming it down upon the other god. Ryujin didn't comment on this, and instead of locking blades again with the Oni he whirled around the massive slab of metal and lunged his ice sword at Naruto's chest.

Naruto jerked slightly to the side, and the ice sword passed harmlessly underneath his arm as he worked the length of his arm around Ryujin's hand and let go of Kamikaze with the other. The instant his hand left the blade the Wind God felt its magic leaving his body, quickly reverting his large form into his much smaller human form. Instead of being surprised or agitated by this turn of events, Naruto grabbed Ryujin's belt with his now free hand and kicked his feet out from under him, before throwing him over his shoulder. Then Naruto reached back for Kamikaze and felt the Divine Wind flow through his body, reverting him back into his much stronger Oni form.

When he turned, he found that Ryujin had landed safely, his feet light on the gravel of the ground. Naruto eyed the man with his red eyes, and Ryujin smirked.

"You know," Ryujin commented, twirling his own sword around him in an intricate pattern, "You aren't the only one with a beast inside them..." then, so saying, his eyes widened and his muscles began expanding.

Soon, the skin on his face and hands and underneath his clothes began tearing even while his mouth began to extend into the rough shape of a snout. Spikes and scales burst out of his tearing skin and clothing, until he was standing roughly at the same height that Naruto was, icy blue scales glinting in the ethereal light of the God Temple. Slowly, the now humanoid dragon extended his wings experimentally, sighing in relief, and then curled his tail around his waist.

"That's better," Ryujin said in relief, his voice even darker and more powerful then it had been in his human form. The dragon grinned, rows of razor sharp teeth glinting brilliantly. Naruto readied his blade before him, his own expression hard, and his tusks gnashed together. "Get ready," Ryujin warned, slowly lowering his body into a half crouch while aiming his icy sword at the Oni, "Here I come!"

A burst of speed put Ryujin within striking distance of the other god, and Naruto jumped sideways to avoid the dragon's lunge while throwing his own blade towards him. Seeing this, Ryujin flapped his wings and carried his large form into the air. He dived, and Naruto rolled to the side, striking upwards with his zanbato, though its length and heft made it impossible to correctly preform a proper lunge.

Ryujin glided away, before slashing at Naruto's form with Frostmourn, the blade screaming with power as an icy gale rushed the Oni. Naruto cursed and threw his own blade into the path of the onrushing ice, summoning his own tornado of wind that nullified the dragon's attack. Then Naruto pulled his sword out of the ground, and still continuing to wield his wind powers he threw the blade in the direction of the other god and sent it hurling at him.

A cyclone of wind tore the ground up in large chunks, as the inverted tornado spilled ever towards the dragon. Ryujin regarded it grimly, before summoning a flood of cold water from the ethers and sending it to meet the tornado's approach.

The two elements collided, and there was a brief, cold explosion of water and wind and ice, and then both Naruto and Ryujin were rushing towards each other, heedless of the frozen tornado that they had left in their wake.

Naruto swept his zanbato through the air, and Ryujin ducked, but was met with a kick to the face. Naruto grabbed the dragon by his throat and smashed his shoulder into his chest, sending him toppling to the ground. But Ryujin was already on the move, sweeping his sword across the ground and forcing Naruto to take to the air. Naruto jumped, and Ryujin threw his body into the air to follow him, sending the both of them hurtling through the cloudy ethers.

They arched over the railing that blocked the training fields from the bottomless abyss that surrounded the Temple of the Gods, sending them hurtling down into the ethers. Suspended as they were, Naruto worked his hand around Ryujin's neck while jamming the hilt of Kamikaze into the Water Dragon's gut. Ryujin roared, and Naruto snarled back, before they separated, not before each slashed the other across their left shoulder.

They pulled apart, hovering within the cloudy abyss well below the Temple of the Gods. Naruto glared the dragon's way, while Ryujin smirked and brought Frostmourn to bear. Seeing this, Naruto followed suit, putting his own massive blade between them once more.

Their next clash was furious, fast, and without the finesse that they had thus displayed in their prior conflict. It was struggle between their strength, their blades colliding and straining against each other. Naruto could hear the roar of the storm in the Kamikaze calling for battle, and the returning roar of the Frostmourn's icy wail, spitting in fury at the other wind blade. Naruto scowled darkly and with his free hand he reared towards the blade and placed his palm across its hilt.

The instant his fingers touched the sword the blade glowed a fierce blue color, before exploding between them, sending them hurtling backwards. Naruto righted himself and saw that an ice storm had sprung up where Ryujin had been, and the scream of the storm was accompanied by the yells of Ryujin being battered by both ice and wind amongst its fury.

Grimly, Naruto narrowed his eyes and swept Kamikaze forward, the blade laughing at the impetuousness of the younger blade. He slashed through the air, and instantly the currents in the winds inverted, drawing the surrounding air towards Naruto.

The Oni grimly struggled against the onrushing force of nature as he drew in the clouds of the ethereal plain into his sword, and also the continued torrent of gale force ice winds that had once been the barely contained Frostmourn. It was a trying matter for the newly appointed god, as his many great and terrible godly powers were put to the test. But still he continued to draw the storm into his blade, even as Kamikaze's voice was drowned out by the scream of Frostmourn and the length of his blade became ice cold and his fingers stuck to the hilt.

Slowly, the storm began to lessen, the winds dying and the air within the ethereal plain warming significantly. Naruto struggled to contain the fury of the storm, ruthlessly beating it into submission with half of his mind while the other half struggled to reinforce Kamikaze. The rival winds struggled for perchance for several long moments, before, finally with a dying howl the ice storm cut out and the Frostmourn's voice became quiet inside Kamikaze's own storm.

The whole plains grew quiet as Kamikaze's roar receded in his ears and Naruto rested his weary body tiredly. His breath was heavy, and a mist was formed with each breath from his lungs. Naruto felt cold, but not uncomfortably so. He drifted listlessly for several moments before he remembered the presence of Ryujin.

He needn't have worried, however, as the Water Dragon was suspended idly within the middle of the air, unconscious and once more reverted to his human form. Naruto glided effortlessly towards the man, scooping him up into his own large hands and carrying him towards the distant speck that was the Temple of the Gods.

Naruto didn't know what this could possibly mean for him, but he would soon learn that these events had set into motion an even greater destiny then that which he could yet realize.

* * *

XXX

* * *

"This is an outrage!" Zeus proclaimed, once the meeting had officially went underway. Several other gods in the pantheons that surrounded the long table murmured their agreement to his shouts of fury. Watching this, the Sun Goddess Amaterasu looked on these proceedings with clear amusement. "How could you make that..._thing_ into one of us?" the King of the Greek Gods questioned Inzanagi disgustedly. From a glance to her father, the Sun Goddess could see that the God of Life was just as amused by these events as she.

Inzanagi gave a disinterested shrug, saying, "As we have agreed, I did not turn a _mortal_ into a god. So I do not see what the issue is on this situation?" at this, several of the surrounding gods began sputtering in anger.

"The issue?" Loki began, looking spiteful, "The issue is that you'd dare to let that _creature_ join our ranks in the first place!" he spat, standing up and lifting his scepter threateningly. At this, a new voice halted the aggression in the assembled gods with one word.

"Sit," the Shinigami ordered murderously, and instantly Loki sat down mutely. Seeing this, the dark God of Death nodded in the direction of his two rivals.

"Now," said Kami simply, folding her hands onto the table and fixing an easy smile on the hundreds of gods in attendance, "I believe the issue that everyone is having is that the newest god to join our ranks was not a human or an immortal, but a demon, correct?" none of the gods met her searching stare, so Kami turned to her sister. "What do you think, Yami?"

At this, the God of Hell chuckled, fixing her haunting gaze onto the gathered host of gods. She raised a hand to her mouth and giggled, saying, "There is no ruling that says that a demon cannot join the ranks of godhood with us. So all official complaints are mute and void." Then she glared murderously, claiming, "And any unofficial complaints will see the complainer in a discussion with _me." _At this, many of the gathered gods looked to her warily.

"Surely you can't be serious?" Zeus questioned the Big Three. At this, Shinigami looked at the King of Greek Gods with thinly veiled rage.

"You presume to question our decision, child?" Shingami growled, and Zeus paled and grew strangely quiet. Seeing this, the Shinigami nodded, "Our decision remains. From henceforth, the one known as Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, the Juubi, is to be the new God of Wind for the Shinto Pantheon." So saying, he gave a dark look at the assembled gods, ordering, "You are dismissed." And so the gods began retreating from the council chamber.

Before the Shinto gods could make their own retreat, Yami approached the five of them and gave a short, respectful bow before beginning.

"If it isn't much of a trouble, would you five please stay after the proceedings so that we may properly converse with you," the Hell Goddess questioned. Amaterasu knew that her father wouldn't even ponder this request, as the man stepped forwards, bowing.

"Of course, Lady Yami," and so saying, the group waited with the Big Three as the other gods piled out of the room.

Once they were all alone, Kami extended her hand to the table with an easy smile, asking, "Tea?" Amaterasu's father and brothers each took a glass, before settling in proffered seats. Amaterasu also sat herself calmly down and waited for the three Elder Gods to begin.

"These are trying times," began the Shinigami, leaning back in his chair and regarding the group wearily. "With the death of one of our own and the exposure of his heir, well, we're all a little high strung from this whole event."

"Do you intend to punish Ares, then?" Susanoo remarked, looking intrigued by the Death God's words. At this, the Shinigami shook his head.

"No," said Yami, and she raised her hands to stop the God of Storms from interrupting, "With all due respect, Ares is void of any punishment for there is no crime. Fujin let himself be goaded into an official duel, and lost the battle and his life in the process. That is why we will not punish Ares for his act of violence," the Hell Goddess explained. Amaterasu saw that her brothers Tsukuyomi and Suasnoo were exchanging looks, and that her father and mother were dwelling on this mutely.

"Then what is to be done?" Amaterasu questioned intently, breaking into the conversation. When she saw that she had the eyes of the Three Elder Gods, the Sun Goddess continued, saying, "Ares's slaying of Fujin created a power vacuum in our own pantheon, and has damaged our standing in the power struggle between the other pantheons," she claimed. She sighed, shaking herself, continuing, "If something isn't done, we might be challenged by another pantheon..."

Kami, Yami and the Shinigami listened to her intently, before Kami spoke up.

"It is to my understanding that this 'Naruto' is a child of Hachiman, the God of War of your own Pantheon. And already there is rumors that he defeated another god in your pantheon. This speaks highly of his prowess in combat," Kami looked intently at Inzanagi. The patriarch of the Shinto pantheon nodded in understanding, "Perhaps _he_ could reassert your power base amongst the other pantheons. Maybe even further your power?" she questioned.

Amaterasu thought on this explanation for several long moments, before giving a nod to show that she understood what the Heaven Goddess was saying. Yes, the Sun Goddess considered, perhaps Naruto was the perfect weapon to use on the other pantheons.

"It won't be easy," Yami warned them intently, staring them all in the eyes, "After all, he's new to his powers, and has mostly gotten by so far on pure dumb luck. You'll all have to put a vested interest in him if he is to succeed."

"Of course," Inzanagi said aloud, nodding his own head and closing his eyes thoughtfully. "However, he is bitter and maybe irrevocably damaged," the King of the Shinto Gods explained. The Big Three shared a lengthy look.

"Be that as it may," said the Shinigami darkly, "he is a warrior and a protector at heart. I'm sure you could manage."

"But why go so far for us?" Tsukuyomi questioned, ever the paranoid idiot, "why would you three wish for us to win these upcoming battles?" at this, the Big Three shared another look.

"We believe that he'll be useful for our own goals," Kami explained dutifully, giving them a kind smile, "but we wouldn't know for sure unless we met him ourselves...don't you think?"

At this, the Shinto gods shared their own meaningful looks, before Inzanagi nodded.

"That can be arranged..." and the God of Life smiled.

* * *

XXX

* * *

"Yeah, I tell you, Asuka village was swept away in a mudslide," the man commented to his listeners as he stood stoically looking at them all, "I'm telling you that the world's been acting strange. It's like the gods are angry with us!" he urged them.

A few of the listeners were nodding their heads, while others were backing off in disgust at the man's superstition. Watching this, Naruto quietly sunk back into the shadows of the street, blending in with the surrounding humans as he fell back to his ninja training. From a ways down the street both Raijin and Inari were looking in at a bakery, with the Fox Goddess's eyes widened in wonder and delight at what she was seeing. For a brief moment the blond god's mind went back to a happier time, when he wasn't so old and bitter, and the world wasn't so lonely.

Back when all his friends and family were still alive, before the Juubi, before Madara and Obito. Simpler times.

Back then, when team seven was still whole, he had shared similar moments like this, except that he was in the place of Raijin and that Sasuke was the one stoically observing their surroundings. The nostalgic memories brought a rare, genuinely happy smile to his face, before he unerringly remembered that he was still alone in the world. Then the smile fell and he morosely trailed down the street with a clear frown on his face.

A child bumped into him and fell to the ground. Seeing this, Naruto lowered himself to his knees to observe the kid.

"You okay?" he asked softly. The girl looked up to him with tears in her eyes, before holding out her hands to him. Naruto could see that they were slightly scuffed, and were bleeding a little. Naruto smiled sadly.

"It hurts," the girl claimed. Naruto nodded, and reached for her hands.

When he pulled back the girl marveled at her unmarred hands. Naruto winked at her, and she slowly stood.

"Ami! Where are you?" a voice called into the crowd, and the girl looked up and spotted her approaching mother. She waved to Naruto before departing, returning to her approaching mother.

Naruto watched this all sadly, recalling fondly his memories of his years with Hinata and the time they had spent raising their first child, a daughter named Hanabi after Hinata's dead sister. Similar events like this moment had happened often enough that Naruto was struck with uncanny remembrance.

"Yo, Naruto, what's gotten under your skin?" Raijin questioned as he and Inari approached the sadly reminiscing blond. Naruto shook his head and smiled thinly.

"It doesn't matter..." Naruto said quietly, turning to regard the little girl and her mother making their way down the street. He couldn't help the haunted look from coming to his eyes as he whispered, "Nothing matters anymore..."

* * *

To Be Continued...

* * *

Author's Note:

Sorry for taking so long, people. Busy with several stories and life in general.

Anyways, someone asked about the pairings, so I'll discuss a little about the history of the Kaze Noil series so that I can properly explain the pairings.

Kaze Noil, in its first iteration, placed a war torn Naruto into the distant past, where he had to adopt his younger self and train him to face his destiny. Of course, being that there was two Naruto's, it offered me a unique opportunity for the pairings. That being, that the older Naruto (Kaze) had a harem of the grown women in the Naruto series, and the younger Naruto (Naruto) had a harem of the girls in the Naruto series.

Taking that into consideration, this story will eventually see Naruto (Kaze, the Main Character) returning to the past to take care of his younger counter part. And because of that, the same situation with the pairings will occur in this story.

I can't tell you when this will happen, though, since I'm building up a lore for the story for me to work on. Hopefully, it won't be much longer, but there's a lot of information that I need to cover before I'm ready to send Kaze into the past.

Anyways, that's all for now. Review, and stuff, you know?

Ta.

- Professor Image.


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